


Shadow Over Mystacor

by Redrikki



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Tag, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Stockholm Syndrome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 13:26:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16913682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redrikki/pseuds/Redrikki
Summary: After Shadow Weaver's attack on Mystacor, Adora just wants to relax, but that's hard to do when it's all your fault.





	Shadow Over Mystacor

**Author's Note:**

> For hurt/comfort bingo challenge "Stockholm Syndrome."

Adora woke up gasping. Only the sight of her friends and Glimmer’s murmurs of reassurance kept her from reaching for her sword. She hadn’t even meant to doze off in the first place. Apparently, the combination of warm sand and calming waves were a lot more relaxing than she’d thought. It was either that, or the sleep deprivation was finally getting to her. She tried to close her eyes and go back to sleep, but her heart kept racing. 

Shadow Weaver had been here. The thought propelled Adora to her feet. She paced back and forth, swinging and stretching her arms. Her fists itched to hit something. _Shadow Weaver_ had been _here_. 

“Adora?” Glimmer asked sleepily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “What’s the matter?”

“Shadow Weaver was here,” Adora said, still pacing. Back and forth, back and forth. 

“What?!” Bow sat bolt upright, his eyes darting frantically. Glimmer teleported to Adora’s side, fists at the ready to deal with the threat. “Where?” 

“No,” Adora shook her head, “I mean before.” She felt so stupid worrying them like this. How long until they started to think she was crazy again? “Shadow Weaver used to _live_ here.”

Bow flopped back with a relieved sigh, but Glimmer frowned. “What are you talking about?” she asked, gently steering Adora back towards their blankets. 

“She was Light Spinner,” Adora allowed herself to be eased back down beside Bow even as she trembled with excess energy, “before she joined Hordak.” 

Shadow Weaver had walked Mystacor’s halls. She’d soaked in their healing springs. She’d probably paced this very beach and gazed out at these very same cloud-wave things. This was supposed to be a safe, peaceful place, but she’d tainted it, long before Adora had ever gotten here. It was like she was still, as she had always been, under Shadow Weaver’s thumb.

“She came back her looking for me.” The sand which had felt so pleasant just a few minutes ago seemed to leach the warmth from Adora’s skin. “She knew I was She-Ra.” She wrapped her arms around herself in a bid to stave off an attack of the shivers. “I think maybe she always knew.”

Glimmer and Bow exchanged an alarmed look. Adora’s presence here had put everyone in danger. The other times they’d run into the Horde had been coincidences. The attack on Thaymor had been scheduled for weeks before Adora even thought of going into the Whispering Woods. They’d gone to Plumeria because it was already in trouble. The timing at Salineas was a little weird, but the Horde might have had intel about the sea gate’s imminent collapse. There was no pretending though that Shadow Weaver’s attack on Mystacor was anything other than an attempt to get Adora back. 

No, not Adora. Shadow Weaver had come for She-Ra. It was She-Ra’s strength she wanted, She-Ra’s power, but how had she known they were the same person in the first place? Had Catra ratted her out? Unlikely. Even after Thaymor and Salineas, Adora refused to believe her friend would betray her like that. Had Brightmoon been infiltrated by Horde spies? It was worryingly possible, but it didn’t explain everything from her childhood.

“Growing up, she was always pushing me to be better.” Adora hadn’t always been the best. Yeah, she’d been better than Kyle, but, even as kids, Catra was faster and Lonnie hit harder. Yet somehow Adora was the one Shadow Weaver had showered with special attention. “She wanted me to live up to my potential and was really clear what would happen if I didn't.” Adora shivered at the thought. 

Bow’s eyes widened in alarm, but he didn’t know the half of it. How could he? He’d never seen Catra’s face after a reprimand or had Shadow Weaver’s voice curl around him from the dark. Bow and Glimmer disobeyed their superiors all the time as if they’d never know that kind of fear.

“You said Shadow Weaver was like your mom,” Bow said, sounding pretty uncomfortable at the thought. “How did you even wind up with her?”

“She’s _not_ my mom,” Adora snapped, her hands curling into fists. Glimmer had suggested it, but that wasn’t right. Just because Shadow Weaver had taught her how to read and tie her boots didn’t make her like Queen Angelia. Glimmer may be desperate to please her mother, but she’d never been afraid of her. The consequences of her failures were met with a scolding and being confined to her fancy room, not watching her friend be hurt or worse. Adora no expert, but she was pretty sure Shadow Weaver was as far from a real mom as she could get. 

Her friends recoiled, taken aback by her anger, and Adora made an effort to reign herself in. “Shadow Weaver is not my mother,” she said once she was calmer. “I was nothing. An orphan. All us cadets were. The Horde took us in, gave us purpose. Training. A chance to make the world a safer place and stop the princesses who killed our families.”

Bow and Glimmer exchanged another worried look. “Um, Adora, you do know none of that is true?” he asked tentatively, like he was a little afraid she had lost her mind. “Right?"

“Except maybe the orphan bit,” Glimmer muttered darkly.

The words hit Adora like a kick to the solar plexus. She probably was an orphan, but the Princess Alliance hadn’t killed her family. The Horde had. They’d killed her family, and Catra’s, and Lonnie’s, and Kyle’s, and everyone’s, and then raised them think the Horde were the good guys. Adora had spent her whole life thinking they were the good guys. Now she thought she might throw up. 

“Adora?” 

Bow’s gentle touch made her shiver. “Do you think the Horde killed my family because I’m She-Ra?”

“No.” Glimmer caught Adora’s face between her hands and looked her dead in the eye. “The Horde hurts and kills people. It’s what they do. Whatever, it is not your fault. It had nothing to do with She-Ra,” she insisted and pulled Adora into a tight hug. 

Adora let herself melt into her friend’s arms. Glimmer seemed so sure, and she was an expert on the Horde being awful. It would be so easy just to believe her. Adora wanted to believe her, but the truth was, Shadow Weaver had targeted Mystacor because of her and it didn’t feel like the first time.


End file.
